Gravitational waves are caused by cosmic events like colliding black holes or neutron stars, explosive supernovas - even the birth of the universe.

Further, the LIGO-Virgo team was able, through the new observation, to put tighter constraints on the mass of the graviton, the hypothesized particle that supposedly mediates the gravitational force (analogous to the way that the photon, for example, mediates electromagnetic force).

By studying both the chirp and the ringdown, LIGO physicists worked out the masses of the two initial black holes, determining that the merged black hole weighed 49 solar masses - the difference being radiated away in the form of gravitational waves.

GW170104 was detected during the second run for the Advanced LIGO system, which is still in progress. When gravitational waves were detected in 2015, they were found from the formation of a black hole with 62 times the mass of our Sun and 21 times the mass.

The recent detection is the farthest yet, with the black holes located about 3 billion light-years from Earth.

Black holes are some of the most massive objects in the universe, and can be billions of times bigger than the Sun.

LIGO is an global collaboration with members around the globe.

This detection also hints at new information on how black holes spin.

Astronomers detect more of Einstein's ripples in space

After carefully analysing the signal, the LIGO team determined it was the fingerprint of a catastrophic collision between two black holes, one with a mass equal to roughly 30 suns, and the other with the mass of 19 suns.

This puts the merger right in the middle of the same weight class as the previous two black hole mergers - a class that scientists had not expected to encounter.

In this case, researchers were also able to tease out details that suggest at least one of the black holes was spinning in a direction opposite to the direction that the black holes were orbiting each other as they converged.

"Although our measurement can not precisely determine if the black holes were tilted, we have indication that at least one of the two black holes was misaligned, which favors the first theory", said Cadonati.

"That's either because heavy black hole spins are small, or because they're tilted, so their net effect cancels out", O'Shaughnessy said.

The other model proposes that the black holes are born together, forming when each star in a pair explodes and then, because the original stars were spinning in alignment, the black holes remain aligned.

They did not see evidence of dispersion, but if they had, it would have contradicted Einstein's theory. This happens when light waves in a physical medium travel at different speeds, depending on their wavelength. With no sign of dispersion, the LIGO team can say that if gravitons exist and have mass, it has to be less than 7.7 x 10 electronVolts.

"The upgrades will improve our reach into space, and allow for our third observation run ultimately to commence", said Caltech's Mike Landry, who directs LIGO's Hanford Observatory. "What's tremendous and exciting about it is that it's a completely new way of discovering things that we don't yet know".

Indian scientists have done foundational work over the last three decades in modelling the signal waveforms and developing mathematical techniques to search for gravitational wave signals in noisy data.

So it's possible that a binary neutron star merger could still be seen this year, or after the LIGO collaboration upgrades its instruments over the coming years. So, stay tuned: It's only been a bit more than a year since we first detected gravitational waves; no doubt they have much more to tell us about our universe.

"A squeezed light source will be installed to manipulate the quantum nature of light and make the detectors even more precise measurement devices", she said.

Gravitational waves produced by the birth of a massive black hole, a record-breaking billions of light-years from Earth, have been detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO).

Before gravitational wave astronomy, no scientist had observational proof that two black holes could orbit each other. LIGO partners with the Virgo Collaboration, a consortium including 280 additional scientists throughout Europe supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), and Nikhef, as well as Virgo's host institution, the European Gravitational Observatory.

Apparently Half Of Donald Trump's Twitter Followers Are FakeJun 01, 2017 - 00:45
According to Twitter , it's fairly normal for new users to not upload photos before beginning to use the service. At the time of writing, Trump's Twitter following had increased by five million followers over just a few days.

Apple's Siri-powered smart speaker will reportedly debut next monthJun 01, 2017 - 00:44
Does the Apple smart speaker described in today's report interest you? Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Apple will also embrace third-party services through the Siri-controlled speaker, as is did within iOS 10 previous year .

Trump vows crackdown over leaked Manchester detailsMay 30, 2017 - 05:30
Officials said all of the bombing victims have been identified, but names were being withheld until autopsies were completed. Rudd said counter-terrorism was adequately resourced, and denied the cuts had made it harder to prevent Monday's attack.

Rouhani says regional stability impossible without IranMay 29, 2017 - 04:27
This group which has 125,000 soldiers is part of Iran's army and controls multibillion-dollar businesses in all sectors. He also called on Iranians to join demonstrations to show to the USA that they are not afraid of the threats.

Julian Assange rape charges dropped by Swedish authoritiesMay 29, 2017 - 04:26
On Friday, it was announced the Swedish government had dropped the rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange . Barry Pollack, an attorney in Washington representing Assange, said the British should allow Assange to travel to Ecuador.

Ariana Grande to perform at benefit concert for ManchesterMay 29, 2017 - 04:21
More than 20 people were killed in an explosion following a Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena late Monday evening. Prime Minister Theresa May made this announcement after leading a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra.

Russians discussed how to influence Trump via aidesMay 28, 2017 - 02:39
Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page said he'll testify in a closed-door meeting before the House Intelligence Committee. The committee has tried another way to receive the documents by issuing two subpoenas for two of Flynn's former businesses.

Minnesota leaders plan another run at ending special sessionMay 28, 2017 - 02:38
Mark Dayton to publicly declare them all dead on arrival and reset the process", Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said. The House passed a transportation funding bill that relies on general fund revenue to fund road and bridge projects.

Four militants killed on LoC: ArmyMay 28, 2017 - 02:34
The infiltration of terrorists has increased this year and over 200 militants are waiting along the LoC for sneaking into Kashmir. The defence experts praised this move and said it will break the myth of the supremacy of the Pakistani BAT.